Open access means free access to information and unrestricted use of electronic resources for everyone. A publication is defined as “open access” when anyone can read, download, copy, distribute, print, search for and search within the information, or use it in education or in any other way within the legal agreements. Open access publishing has been revolutionizing the academic publishing landscape since its inception at the Budapest Open Access Initiative in 2002. Scholarly societies, publishers, and researchers are increasingly embracing this approach to make research more accessible.
Global emergencies provide the biggest testament to the importance of widely and freely available peer-reviewed knowledge. In the face of the unprecedented pandemic, almost 20 years after the Budapest Open Access Initiative, several publishers have provided temporary open access to all their copyrighted or restricted materials related to COVID-19.
Free and open access publication is associated with a plethora of terms (and colors!), which can cause a lot of confusion. This handy resource lists the top things you always wanted to know about open access publishing.
Open access enables collaborative research, confers academics in developing countries the opportunity to participate in international research, and facilitates wide and rapid dispersion of new ideas. However, there is considerable debate around open access despite its many advantages.
Perceived drawbacks of open access publishing and their solutions
Some perceived concerns stem from the novelty of the open access publishing model and the gradual transition till it becomes more widespread and established. At the outset, traditional journals that are well-entrenched in the publishing industry for decades have considerable prestige. It takes a while before new journals—traditional or open access—can acquire an impact factor. Unfortunately, this casts doubts about publishing in open access journals, which are relatively new on the scene. However, there are metrics beyond the impact factor by which the quality and suitability of a journal should be judged. Open access journals like PLoS use article-level metrics, which increase the transparency of impact measures. Researchers should also note that many traditional journals offer a “hybrid” option, where authors can pay an article processing charge (APC) to make their article open access, while taking advantage of a well-known journal’s credibility.
To compound the “prestige” issue, several dubious quality journals (predatory journals) piggyback on the open access model, polluting the scholarly record. To avoid falling prey to predatory journals, which have no scientific merit because of a lack of peer review, authors should carefully check databases that indicate the quality of open access publishers transparently, such as Quality Open Access Market (QOAM) and Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
Finally, individual researchers may struggle with high APCs. However, hundreds of research bodies provide funding to researchers for APCs. Most open access journals even consider applications for APC waivers for authors who are unable to pay. Another route for authors is green open access. Scholars who make their work green open access do not need to pay a fee. In this model, journals allow authors to self-archive their accepted manuscript (post-peer review, pre-copyediting) to a repository or author’s homepage after a specified embargo period.
Many researchers continue to be apprehensive about submitting their work to open access journals for some unfounded reasons. Let’s separate fact from fiction.
Common myths about open access publishing
FICTION: Open access journals have low-quality articles.
FACT: Open access journals follow rigorous peer review just like traditional journals do!
Open access journals comply with established peer-review processes, maintain high publishing standards, and are indexed in scholarly databases. Back in 2004, it was found that “there was at least one open access title that ranked at or near the top of its field” in citation impact. The number of high-quality and high-impact open access journals continues to grow today.
FICTION: Open access only benefits readers and not the authors themselves.
FACT: Open access certainly benefits readers, but it benefits the authors too!
Simply put, publishing an article in an open access journal means more people are likely to see it because more people can access it. Open access articles receive more citations than articles for which subscriptions are required. In fact, full-text downloads and unique visitors tend to be substantially higher for open access articles than for subscription-access articles. Such increased visibility for a published article translates into increased citation frequency, which benefits the researcher. What is more, a researcher’s work is even available to policymakers and the general public, who may not have access to traditional journal subscriptions.
FICTION: Open access articles are not copyrighted.
FACT: Open access publishing allows authors to retain the copyright to their material rather than handing over the rights to the journal!
Did you know that in some cases, authors publishing in traditional journals need permission to reuse their own figures or text when teaching a class? Open access material is free of such restrictions. Many open access journals make use of Creative Commons licenses, which permit the reuse of material as long as the original author is attributed.
FICTION: If a preferred journal does not provide an open access option, one cannot publish their paper open access.
FACT: You do not need to publish with an open access journal to make your work freely accessible!
Many publishers allow authors to share a version of their work (either a preprint or a post-print) on their personal website or in a repository. The SHERPA/Romeo database describes whether an author can share a preprint, a post-print, or other versions of their content.
Be open to open access!
According to one estimate, 65% of the 100 most cited papers are behind a paywall. However, with the increasing awareness of the importance of easily accessible research, the open access movement is rapidly gaining consensus globally. Myths about open access publishing and misguided doubts that create biases should not come in the way of selecting the perfect journal for one’s research. It is crucial to focus on important factors like journal indexes, recently published papers, and journal metrics in the process of journal selection. The Global Journal Database by Researcher.Life is a useful resource to find relevant information about both open access and traditional journals. Authors should choose wisely from the enormous array of publishing opportunities at their disposal to make their work more visible and discoverable.
